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Yariv Horowitz, an Israeli filmmaker, has claimed that he was brutally beaten and knocked unconscious by a group of “Arab youths” just after a screening of his film at the Aubagne Film Festival in southern France a few days ago. Aubagne is 11 km east of the city of Marseille.

Horowitz’s film Rock the Casbah won a jury prize at the festival.

Elements of the story, including inconsistencies in various versions, cast doubt on Horowitz’s claims. French police have also given The Electronic Intifada additional details about what allegedly happened that cast further doubt on Horowitz’s accounts.

Why I’m suspicious

My doubts about Horowitz’s story were first raised by the fact that he appears to be the only source for it and there is no mention of it whatsoever in French media. It is reported only in Israeli media (and some US Jewish community publications have picked it up), based – apparently – on his claims.

It seemed unlikely that a horrifying attack serious enough to knock a film director unconscious would pass completely unnoticed and unremarked by the festival hosting him and at which he won a prize, or by local or national French media.

Yet I could find no reports about the incident in French media and no statement from the film festival. I spoke today with Manon Ouellette, the official press contact for the Aubagne Film Festival, which was held from 19-23 March, and she told me she had heard nothing about an attack on Horowitz.

Horowitz, whose film will be featured at the Israeli-government sponsored Festival of Israeli Cinema in Paris, has not responded to a message sent to him via Facebook seeking comment.

What Horowitz and Israeli media reports claim

The director Yariv Horowitz was attacked by a group of Arab youths after the screening of his film Rock the Casbah at the Aubagne Film Festival in France.

Horowitz lost consciousness, was treated on the spot, and then returned to the festival where he won the special jury prize for the best film. The prize was awarded to Yariv Horowitz for the film and to Assaf Amdurksy for the music.

“I presented the film at the festival and in the evening, after we presented, I went out into the street with Assaf Amdursky and a group of Arab youths attacked us,” Horowitz said in a conversation with Nana10 Culture and Arts. “They beat me. I didn’t know why it happened. I still don’t know. Someone from the city said one of them saw the film before the incident and we still don’t know if it was because they were drunk or because of something else.”

Yariv Horowitz, director of the film Rock the Casbah, was attacked three days ago in a street in Marseille, France, by a group of youths and badly beaten. The attack occurred immediately after the screening of Rock the Casbah at the Aubagne Film Festival in the city. As a result of the blows he received, Horowitz lost consciousness. According to him it was clear that they were Arabs and some of them had watched his film before the attack.

Horowitz told Haaretz this evening that after the screening of his film at the French festival he went out into the street outside the festival venue along with the musician Assaf Amdurksy, who wrote the film’s score. “We wanted to withdraw money, and then we were confronted by a group of youths,” Horowitz said. “They started to shout ‘fuck you’ at me in an Arabic accent. Assaf told me to ignore them, but I shouted back at them ‘Fuck you too’ and then they jumped on me. They knocked me down and kicked me, and as a result of a blow to the head I lost consciousness. It was clear that they were Arabs and drunk.”

A day after that, in a party organized by the festival, Horowitz says, he was approached one of the drivers who works with the festival who told him that he heard about the attack from his daughter. “He was an Arab, and he told me that his daughter’s friends were sending text messages about the attack. According to him, at least one or two of the attackers were earlier at the screening of my film and saw me up there on stage.”

A report this morning on the English-language Israeli website Ynet gives the following account in which Horowitz now claims that he “refused medical care and did not file a complaint with local police.”

After the screening we went to get some money from an ATM machine when a group of Arab teens started yelling and cursing at me. I cursed right back and then they beat me up. They threw me on the floor and kicked me. I lost consciousness and only woke up a few minutes later.”

Horowitz refused medical care and did not file a complaint with local police. “I didn’t want to spend all night at the (police) station. I don’t know if the attack was racially motivated, but wither way [sic] it’s annoying: In Israel I was criticized by the right and in France the Arabs beat me up.”

After recovering from the blows he received, he returned to the festival area in “good condition.”

After the violent incident, Horowitz’s day saw a marked improvement as Rock the Casbah won the Special Prize of the Jury for Best Picture.

Notable inconsistencies and questions:

Horowitz claims to have suffered kicks and a blow to the head severe enough to have caused him to lose consciousness for several minutes. Such an injury is potentially life-threatening, especially since severe effects or even death may not occur until hours or even days after an initial blow. Why would any responsible person refuse medical treatment for a serious head injury? Why would Assaf Amdursky, who was allegedly a witness, not insist that Horowitz be treated?

What was Amdurksy doing during the attack on Horowitz? Was he also attacked? Did he fight back? Did he defend Horowitz? Horowitz’s accounts and the media reports are silent on this. According to his most recent Facebook status, Amdursky is already back in Tel Aviv, but has not commented on or been quoted on the alleged incident.

In one account Horowitz suggests he saw his attackers at the screening of the film prior to the attack. In two other accounts he claims that other people told him the attackers had been seen at the screening. Which was it? But more importantly, if other persons told him this how could they possibly know what the attackers looked like if they did not witness the attack?

In one account Horowitz appears to describe a sudden attack. In others he describes an angry exchange of words preceding the attack.

Horowitz claims that others, including even a driver, were aware of the attack. Why has the Aubagne Film Festival not issued a statement of solidarity condemning an attack on one of its prize-winning directors? Why are there no reports on this incident in French media?

According to the official program of the film festival, Horowitz’s film was screened on 21 March at 3:15pm. Prizes were not awarded until the award ceremony on the evening of 23 March. Media accounts which started appearing on 28 March describe the attack as occurring “three days ago.” If it indeed occurred on the day of the screening then it was a week ago. This makes it even more strange that reports of the incident took so long to emerge.

What the police say

Paravisini confirmed that police and emergency medical services (pompiers) had been called to attend the scene of an incident. She did not know who had called them.

Paravisini said that when police arrived on the scene Mr. Horowitz appeared to be fine and refused medical assistance. “He was not unconscious, and if he had been he would have been taken to the hospital. We would not leave a person who was seriously injured in the street just like that.”

Paravisini said that Horowitz refused to make a police report and police had no reports from any third parties or witnesses regarding an attack and no suspects since no complaint had been made.

“Mr. Horowitz has the right not to make a police complaint,” Paravisini said. “But if you were knocked unconscious why wouldn’t you go to the hospital with the fire brigade to get checked out?”

Asked if attacks of the kind that Horowitz had alleged had happened before in Aubagne, a picturesque town of 50,000 in France’s Provence region, Paravisini answered, “Non, non, non.”

Why it’s important to know the truth

As this incident shows, reports about alleged anti-Semitic attacks spread rapidly through the media, especially when they concern France. One year ago, a horrifying shooting attack on the Ozar Hatorah Jewish school in the southern city of Toulouse by Muhammad Merah, a mentally disturbed individual, killed one teacher and three children.

Also last summer, Zach Tennen, a student at Michigan State University, claimed he was the victim of a horrifying anti-Semitic hate crime in which his mouth was stapled shut. This was widely and unquestioningly reported by media, including the JTA, before it was debunked.

Hate crimes of any kind must be taken seriously. False or exaggerated claims of hate crimes should be exposed because they make it harder for victims of real hate crimes to be heard and believed.

If indeed Horowitz’s account is fabricated or exaggerated, then the victims in this case are Arab youths in general whom he has defamed as violent racists, playing into already strong prejudices.

Horowitz should now be asked to give a proper accounting of what happened by the media who have uncritically reported his claims.

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Comments

Horowitz is quoted as having identified an "Arabic accent" in the speech of the youths who attacked him, based on the phrase "fuck you," which was yelled at him.

I am a trained sociolinguist, specializing in Arabic dialects and language contact. It is my expert opinion that it is virtually impossible to detect *any* accent, let alone one that can be characterized as an "Arabic accent" based on the two words "fuck you."

Arabic has a number of sounds, which cause it to stand out among other languages. Best known are the pharyngeal consonants (also known as "guttural sounds") spelled using the Arabic letters ح and ع. Next are the "emphatic" consonants, which are amplified versions of 'd,' 'ð,' 's,' and 't' (Arabic letters ض, ظ, ص, ط). One could even argue that the Arabic 'r' might sound different than its typical French, English or Hebrew counterpart.

But there is nothing in any of the sounds in the phrase "fuck you" which would make it sound "Arabic" (or "French" or "Swahili" or "Mongolian" for that matter), as it consists of consonants and vowels, which are common in such a wide variety of languages worldwide, that whichever way one pronounces it, it simply sounds like, well "fuck you."

The whole claim that the youths had an "Arabic accent" sounds even fishier to me than the rest of the story!

In addition to the points raised, it is not clear from the reports whether the exchange took place in French or English. (Why would it take place in English?) I'm fluent in French, having done a Masters in it, and even I find it virtually impossible to distinguish a Maghrebin French accent from a "native" French one - I have no idea of the director's familiarity with the French language, but I doubt he is an expert on its various dialects - especially from a few phrases shouted in an allegedly stressful situation! (The French spoken by Sub-Saharan Africans on the other hand tends to be easily identifiable as such, though even that certainly only becomes apparent in a speech pattern as whole, not a couple of words.)

Add to this the fact that the VAST MAJORITY of ethnically Arab French - especially among the younger generations - were born and raised in the country, and so have no "accent" at all, other than the French one which may or may not betray their regional/socio-economic origins! Something which, once again, is neither ethnically linked nor likely to be apparent to a foreigner with (presumably) limited knowledge of French.

If inded, they were speaking English (again, why?) the idea that a (presumably) non-native English speaker would be able to pick out an "Arabic" accent (something which doesn't actually exist, given the large number of Arabic-speaking countries and the marked difference in linguistic emphasis between those who learned either British or American English prononciation, etc.) from a couple of words is ludicrous!

Barring nothing else, this claim itself calls his entire story into question!

In France, Horowitz would not have heard the words "Fuck you", but rather their French equivalent "Va te faire enculer". And there again, there is absolutely nothing in the pronunciation of those four words that could have a specific "Arabic tonality". Does Horowitz speak French ?
Besides, one could hardly imagine the presence of a group of "Arabs" (i.e., foreigners coming from an Arab country) in Aubagne, a suburb of Marseilles. The huge majority of the young people who "look Arab" living in France are French citizens, most of them do not speak Arabic, and even the most extreme racists -including the official zionist lobbies operating in France- do not dare any longer call them "Arabs". Horowitz comes from Israel, the only country in the world where "Arab" is a nationality, and will all of his chutzpah, Horowitz probably thinks it is OK to call people "Arabs" because he decided so.
This story definitely stinks. Here in France, up until now, even the BNVCA (a French equivalent of the ADL, infamous for having disseminated a series of false claims of anti-semite attacks, has not bought the Horowitz claim). Nicolas, Paris, France.

In France there has been a lot of false incidents "arabs attack jews" especially during the second Intifada:http://palestine1967.voila.net...
Sarkosy at that time interior minister immediately alarmed the french society but did not correct the false incidents via the media.
Activ French Zionists are interested to "export the Middle East conflict" to european countries. Recurrent theme of the "rising antisemitism" this time "of arab descendant" are debated reguliary in main stream media in order to fabricate an "antisemite" and an islamophobia atmosphere. A very dangerous development because those zionists Bernard Henry Levy, Alain Finkelkraut and many other french zionists have unlimited media access and the Arab community is more or less excluded of main stream access.